Indiana State University Newsroom

Howard-Hamilton recognized for research

November 17, 2011

The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) has recognized an Indiana State University professor for her research on underrepresented student populations.

Mary Howard-Hamilton, Bayh College of Education professor of educational leadership, received the Garcia Senior Exemplary Scholarship Award today (Nov. 17) in Charlotte, N.C., from the Council on Ethnic Participation, which is part of the association. The award recognizes exemplary scholarship that focuses on research and issues related to underrepresented populations of color.

Receiving the award represents a career high for Howard-Hamilton and her research.

"Top scholars in the field are referencing and reading your work and really supporting what you do," she said of ASHE and the award.

Howard-Hamilton's books, which she has co-edited and co-written, include: "Diverse Millennial Students in College," "Multiculturalism on Campus," "Standing on the Outside Looking In" and "Unleashing Suppressed Voices on College Campuses." Her next research will focus on examining rural students in higher education and K-12.

Howard-Hamilton encourages researchers to look past traditional methods. Traditional methods do not include minority information, if there is not enough to create extrapolations.

"They would toss out people of color or rural students," Howard-Hamilton said of the traditional research. "They would take white males and females traditionally and generalize out to the population. The award allows us to look at smaller data sets and not toss out the outliers."

Such moves are necessary for changing higher education, she said.

"We're beginning to move into a society now where we have to recognize each other for our unique gifts," she said. "These are gifts we bring to make the campus better, stronger. It pushes our faculty to be more accepting of uniqueness and our administration to think outside the box to make sure everyone is included in a university environment."